The present invention relates to a device for the pre-sealing of a document to a plastic band. It can be applied notably to the plastification of original documents such as identity cards or any other identification documents for example. More generally, it can be applied to the plastification of documents whose condition has to be protected for reasons of security or reliability.
The quality of the plastification of identification documents plays a role notably in the security and reliability that these documents should provide. Various criteria together define this quality. Among these criteria, the evenness of the plastic edges plays a major role. Indeed, it is important that the document, which is a rectangular identification card for example, should be well centered in the middle of a plastic rectangle that covers it, for reasons of automatic recognition or of reliability of the document for example. To this end, when the document is placed, prior to plastification, on a plastic band, it must be perfectly positioned on this band, notably with respect to the cutting-out line of the unit constituted by the document and the plastic band, namely the plastified document. Indeed, most plastification techniques consist in unrolling a first band of plastic on which the document to be plastified is placed. The unit is then covered with a second band of plastic on the face of the document that is opposite to first band. The operations that follow generally consist in heating the bands on the surface of the document in order to affix them definitively and then in cutting out the document thus plastified. A plastic edge is left around the document at the place or else the cutting-out operation is done just at the edge of the document for example. In both cases, the document needs to be properly positioned with respect to the first plastic band in relation to the line along which it is to be cut out, notably to obtain even edges. Now, between the point where the document is placed on the first plastic band and the point where it is cut out or where it reaches the device for heating the bands to affix or seal the document to these bands, there is a certain spacing to make it possible, for example, for the document to be covered with a second plastic band. This gap may also be necessitated, for example, by the amount of space occupied by the machines. During the journey made by a document on a band that is being unrolled, there is thus a risk that this document will get shifted on the band, hence lose its initial position and get wrongly positioned when it passes beneath the cuttings out line. In particular, if there are several rows of documents placed on the plastic band, there is a risk that these documents will get misaligned. The document therefore needs to be affixed to the first band when it is placed on it. This makes it possible, notably, to prevent the document from subsequently shifting on this band. An affixing or sealing can be obtained for example by a heat spot or by a spot of bonder on the band at the position of the document.
If many documents are subsequently plastified in one or more rows, it is important notably that the affixing point or points should be perfectly positioned with respect to the document to prevent the position of the affixing point or points from shifting, as and when documents move past the sealing device, causing a situation where this sealing spot or these sealing spots are located outside the documents and, hence, where these documents are not affixed.